Ice Core Lab
Did you know that there is a laboratory that was built for the sole purpose of storing and studying ice core samples from all over the world - mainly the North and South Pole?
And these are not small ice core samples - take a look at the above photo.
The National Ice Core Laboratory is located in Colorado and it currently has over 14,000 ice cores in its inventory.
These cores contain more historical climate information than the better known tree rings and sediment layers can provide.
They hold highly detailed records that date back hundreds of thousands of years.
These records include temperature, precipitation, volcanic eruptions, solar variability, and air bubbles that hold the chemistry and gas composition of the lower atmosphere.
The detailed info in these cores helps us study our climate of today and all the global changes we are undergoing.
They have found that some of the changes that we believed took thousands of years to happen actually only took a couple of decades.
This has changed how the study of climatology is done.
I sometimes wonder at the thoughts of mankind - the Earth holds all the secrets and answers and we are constantly trying to figure her out, trying to predict her next move.
She will always hold all the cards no matter what we think we know or do to change her.
Wow, the world has some obscure places! That wouldn’t look out of place in a sci-fi film. I wonder how long they store these samples for…
Interesting blog btw
Cupboard Creatures!
March 2nd, 2010 at 5:43 amI have once read a book about studying the ice from North and South pole but I never known about such a laboratory keeping all the samples.
March 3rd, 2010 at 8:17 amHi Keith - thanks for stopping by! They actually give tours of this place, so that must be part of the info they give out then.
March 4th, 2010 at 8:52 pmHi BK - I had never heard of it either. Gotta love that PBS!
March 4th, 2010 at 8:53 pm